Hyundai Motor, Mobis Implement & Emphasize on Customer & Employee Safety as Top Priority with Dealers

Key Points

* Issued Detailed Guidelines for Showroom & Workshop Environment, Dealership Employees, Contactless Sales, Delivery and Service to ensure safety of Customers and Dealership Staff
* Hygiene and Sanitization check list of ‘High Touch Points’ at all Dealerships and service workshops
* Hyundai Motor India and Mobis India Limited, Part of Hyundai Motor Group will dispatch 6.8 lakh masks (3-Ply, N-90 & N-95) as well as 20,000 half litre & 1.5 lakh 100 ml cases of Sanitizers for consumers, sales, service and backend staff at all Dealerships

Hyundai Motor India Ltd., country’s first Smart Mobility Solutions Provider and the largest exporter since inception, has set Customer and Employee Safety as Top Priority with the announcement of a comprehensive list of measures, aimed at ensuring Dealership Preparedness to meet the highest levels of sanitation and hygiene across all its Showrooms and Workshops.

Commenting on the development, Mr SS Kim, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., said, “The Safety and Well Being of our Customers and Employees is Paramount. With the evolving situation, we must adapt ourselves for the future. Under the umbrella of the ‘Hyundai Cares’ initiative, we are geared up to meet these challenges with sufficient measures that will Enhance Customer Confidence while also ensuring a Safe Showroom & Workshop Environment for Customers and Employees. Our carefully thought out initiatives will encompass all ownership aspects of Hyundai Cars for New & Existing Customers.”

Under the ambit of the ‘Hyundai Cares’ initiative, HMI has laid down guidelines to be followed at its Dealerships across India that encompass all facets of customer interactions from their arrival to departure at Showrooms and Workshops. This will include Display car & Test Drive car preparedness, Customer Lounge & Washrooms sanitization (showroom & workshop), Delivery process of New car & Serviced car, Contactless Demonstration and servicing. To ensure the safety of facilities are not compromised, scheduled sanitization drives are planned and for various customer touch points, regular sanitization contingencies have been established along with thermal screening of employees and visitors.

HMI is simultaneously conducting large scale trainings to ensure all Employees / stakeholders are well informed and work towards the maintenance of a Healthy Dealership Ambience for Customers and fellow employees. To assist Dealerships, Hyundai Motor India and Mobis India Limited, Part of Hyundai Motor Group will dispatch 6.8 lakh masks (3-Ply, N-90 & N-95) as well as 20,000 half litre and 1.5 lakh 100 ml cases of Sanitizers for consumers, sales, service and backend staff for their own and others safety. Hyundai has maintained its lead by achieving rank No. 1 in the 2019 JD Power Sales Satisfaction Index and Customer Satisfaction Index. We will continue to exceed customer expectations by offering peace of mind with the thorough guidelines & protocols in place.

Customers can also opt for remote car demonstrations through online video conferencing application with Sales Consultants at Dealerships. Further, with Hyundai’s Click-to-Buy Integrated end-to-end online car sales website, customers can buy a brand new Hyundai Car online with minimal physical contact, minimal paperwork and home delivery options. For customer convenience, they can opt to have a Sales Consultant assist them in the process at any point in the entire online purchase journey.

Hyundai is also offering customers its 360 Digital Service & Contact-less Service Experience, through which customers can book a service appointment online through the Hyundai Care app, WhatsApp, Hyundai Website or a call to Dealers. Further, customers will receive digital updates through WhatsApp and can also make online payments. Customers will receive enhanced convenience with extended working hours, can avail courtesy car facility and also have their cars picked up and delivered at their doorstep (6 High Touch Points to be sanitized at the time of pick-up and delivery). 

Rooter Raises Pre-Series A Round of $1.7 Mn Led by Paytm, leAD Sports, Rockstud Capital and Founder Bank Capital

India’s biggest sports community platform, Rooter, has raised a Pre-series A round of $1.7 mn. The key investors in this round include India's leading financial services platform Paytm, leAD Sports- Adidas Family backed Fund, Rockstud Capital, and Founder Bank Capital- early stage arm of RB Investments. Anthill Ventures, Venture Catalysts, and a few more current angel investors also participated in the round.

Rooter is also entering into a strategic partnership with Paytm First Games where both companies will collaborate to grow the Cricket, Fantasy Sports, Esports and Gaming ecosystem by creating seamless integration across gaming and content.

The fresh round of funding will be used to grow Rooter’s user base over the next one year and capitalizing on the company’s upcoming Esports & gaming content and communities. This will add a new dimension to the unique positioning of Rooter which already has a very high engagement around its sports content. The new content strategy will also allow Rooter to launch user monetization channels, in addition to current advertising monetization, with gifting economy working very well for many content-based startups in the country.

Rooter, which literally means a Sports Fan, was founded by Piyush and Dipesh Agarwal in 2016. Its core objective is to connect fans with each other, thereby building a strong community. The platform was largely built around Live Sports Gaming during its early days before it pivoted to content in 2019. Today, it has cemented its stance as the only Indian Sports Platform, which comprises sports content developed by users and professionals with a user base of more than 8 million.

Rooter is also the only Indian Sports start-up to ever get selected by leAD Sports Accelerator amongst more than 220 companies that applied from India so far. The brand completed the program in 2018 and later secured its first funding from leAD in 2019. Rooter has raised over a million dollars in funding so far through Venture Catalysts, Bollywood actor Boman Irani, Anthill ventures, and other marquee investors.

Commenting on the development, Piyush, Founder and CEO of Rooter, said, “We started Rooter with the objective of creating a sports fan community and we are glad our pivot to content has found a strong product-market fit. Our engagement metrics and user growth have been excellent in the last two quarters. We are excited to onboard Paytm, who aside from their investment, will also integrate Rooter into Paytm and Paytm First Games while we will work with them to be the biggest source of user content in sports and gaming. We also welcome Rockstud Capital and Founder Bank Capital as investors in Rooter.”

Sudhanshu Gupta, COO Paytm First Games said, "We continue to grow our content offerings through gaming and the addition of Rooter's communities and user-generated content will further enhance the use cases available on our platform. In the coming months, we will add more interactive content around Fantasy sports, Esports, and games while bringing benefits of the Paytm ecosystem to Rooter."

Rockstud Capital Investment Fund is a SEBI-registered Cat-II AIF that invests in listed equities as well as startups at Pre-Series A stage. Their investments include Everest Fleet, Cubical Labs & Noida-based Smartvizx. New Delhi based Ahlawat and Associates are the legal counsel for Rooter on this deal.

Aiisma App Introduces Contact Tracing for Non-Smartphone Users

Aiisma, India’s first-ever consumer to business data marketplace backed by frontier technology has introduced the contact tracing feature. The tracking feature keeps the person’s details anonymous, thus ensuring the privacy of data and identity. The anonymous feature will release a trigger function that will alert any Aiisma user who might have come into close contact with the infected person and maybe potentially infected. The aim is to create a digital fence of sorts against COVID19 and help authorities and citizens overcome it.

It's the only app in India to utilise the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) feature for contact tracing in rural areas. It’s for non-smartphone users who have previous versions of phones which were not 3G, 4G or 5G connected.  This India based app has come up with a way of contact tracing in rural India, where almost 70% of the country’s population lives.

This can be the primary way of tracking those in rural areas where the penetration of smartphones is not that high. The infrastructure in the back-end of the app and mobile remains the same. Instead of having an app installed in their smartphone, they are selecting one option propagated to them by their service providers. Even basic handsets share the location information via cell towers with the telecom service provider. But this app would use the USSD feature when the person gives consent for this information to be shared with the Aiisma ecosystem which ensures anonymity and privacy.

App Link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frelancer.aiisma

NeoGrowth has Been Accelerating Digitization of Small Businesses and Creating Positive Social Impact

Suresh Gupta began selling consumer goods in 2008 with only INR 250. He started with door-to-door sales and 5 years later, he managed to start a grocery store (Sai Shrusthi) in 2013. Retail businesses need to maintain enough cashflow due to their high working capital requirements. As a result, Suresh decided to take a loan from NeoGrowth to meet his liquidity requirements. According to him, the daily repayment option is one of the best features of a loan from NeoGrowth as it is perfectly aligned with his business model. The payment flexibility eased the burden on his monthly outgo. He has further planned to expand his business and open more stores in other areas.

NeoGrowth’s Inception
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), like Sai Shrusthi, are crucial engine for growth of the Indian economy. Nearly 50% of MSMEs still lack access to formal credit, making financial inclusion a core priority. And the major reasons for this huge credit gap are lack of collateral, insufficient or lack of credit history and informal nature of business and lengthy periods of approvals or disbursals for these working capital-intensive businesses. Early into their entrepreneurial venture when they founded the digital payments processing firm, Venture Infotek in the mid-1990s, Mr. Dhruv Khaitan and Mr. Piyush Khaitan, understood the deeper pain points of retailers when it comes to accessing finance. They observed that more than 60% of retailers, even though credit-worthy, were denied finance based on traditional underwriting methods. Thus, going beyond the bipartisan business approach, the Khaitan brothers divested their stake in Venture Infotek in favour of a European MNC in 2010 and soon started a new chapter in the credit space for Indian SME and MSME retailers with NeoGrowth in 2011-12. The company unleashed a revolutionary model for SME and MSME retailers by giving them loans against card swipes using point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Facts & Figures
 2013 First Loan Disbursed     14,000+ Customers          70% Renewal Rate 1,300 Cr+ AUM
  850+ Employee Strength 600+ Channel Partners   27 Cities        Serving

Product Design & Uniqueness
NeoGrowth’s product design is centred around the business model of the retailers as card swipes give a good sense of the business potential, seasonality changes and customer footfalls for underwriting. Another differentiating factor is that this product has a daily recovery model and is digitally driven. The company can be described as a true ‘Digital Lender’ which provides loans to consumer facing, retail oriented, under-served MSMEs through a pioneering model that enables automated, hassle-free, daily, digital repayments for the customers. As its key product, the company offers an innovative loan product, i.e. loans against future digital sales (credit/debit card, online and digital sales). The product, launched in 2012-13, has since then grown in popularity to give NeoGrowth a nation-wide footprint across 27 cities in India and customers across various industries such as restaurants, food and beverage outlets, apparel, consumer durable and footwear stores, petrol pumps, groceries, pharmacies, etc. NeoGrowth has products tailored for customer type and usage. During the last year, we have strengthened our offerings by launching new products namely Vendor Finance and Purchase Finance. These products provide supply chain finance to businesses who sell to or purchase goods or services from eligible large corporate entities.

Key Financials & Growth Strategy
With an average loan ticket size of INR 12 lakhs (and a maximum loan amount of INR 75 lakhs), the company has so far disbursed over INR 5,600 crore till Feb’20; the loan book as on 29th February 2020 stands at INR 1,373 crore. It has clocked INR 1,000 crore in AUM for FY2019 and has grown by over 60% since then. On an average, it has been growing at 50% year on year. Incredibly, since inception, NeoGrowth has touched the lives of over 70,000 customers. NeoGrowth has grown steadily over the last 7 years and has a proven profitable and sustainable business model. Naturally, the company’s financial performance and asset quality have grown consistently since inception. NeoGrowth is one of the very new NBFCS to post a profit (as early as 2016-17) of INR 5 crore in FY 2016-17. In continuation of its strategy of “Deeper, Wider and Newer”, NeoGrowth is now focusing on deepening its reach in existing cities through the core retail lending product to MSMEs.

Social Impact Mission
Creating a positive social impact through business activities has been one of the paramount objectives for which NeoGrowth was established and the impact is measured by an independent agency annually since past six years. The impact is measured in terms of job creation, lending to first generation entrepreneurs, improving credit scores, lending to growing businesses in Tier-II cities, fostering digitization and furthering financial inclusion. During FY2019, around 35% of the disbursals were towards first time borrowers, 23% towards business owners who did not hold formal education degrees and about 12% of loan advances were towards businesses that were run by women either as sole proprietors, partners or directors.

The high value that NeoGrowth has accreted for its customers can be gauged from the high repeat customer rate, asserting its role in the Indian society as a company with immense social impact and relevance.  “NeoGrowth was established with the objective of creating a positive social impact through its business activities as one of its utmost priorities. And it is really heartening to see how we have come a long way in extending support to boost the financial lives of merchants belonging to the erstwhile underserved MSME segment. I humbly state that NeoGrowth has enabled an improvement in the credit history, financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs and overall business growth, resulting in job creation for many of its customers – hitherto under-served by the traditional banking channels. Besides, we continually stay invested in philanthropic initiatives for causes close to us and in these unprecedented times of COVID-19, we are strongly committed to extend our support to several charitable organisations.” says Dhruv Khaitan, Founder and Chairman of NeoGrowth.

COVID Relief Measures
Committed to creating positive social impact since 2013, NeoGrowth has extended their heartfelt support and commitment towards COVID-19 relief, wherein each employee at NeoGrowth has voluntarily contributed from their salary and incrementally NeoGrowth has contributed to the same as well. The founders are also donating a matching amount and hence we have successfully raised an amount of over INR 50 lakhs. This amount is being donated to around 15 selective charitable organisations and NGOs across India who are doing frontline work in distributing food, medicine and equipment to persons most affected including healthcare workers.

Amongst one of the selected NGOs is SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society) who are reaching out to vulnerable communities in the states of Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttarakhand. The relief amount is being utilised to supply hygiene kits and food rations to marginalised families, old age homes and orphanages and providing financial and essential services support to the daily wage earners. Besides, NeoGrowth is also supporting SEEDS in their efforts to support the district administration for complementing and supplementing public health systems as well as helping the Government for establishment of temporary quarantine facilities, where needed. In these regions, besides supporting the elderly and children, SEEDS is taking some burden off frontline health workers by supplementing public health systems, supplying hygiene kits and supporting the establishment of temporary quarantine facilities. Few other notable NGOs supported by NeoGrowth include Goonj, Akshaya Patra Foundation, YUVA (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action), Uday Foundation For Congenita Defects and Rare Blood Groups Trust, Good Neighbors India, etc.

Measures & Digital Initiatives for Customers
Despite not getting any relief on loan moratorium from lenders, NeoGrowth continues to support its customers in the times of COVID crisis. In continuity to our digital initiatives, we have enabled all modes of digital payments for our customers, so that they do not have to step out of their homes. Our customer support staff is operating at full capacity from their homes even during these times to ensure that our customers queries are well heard of. We understand that during these days of lockdown, our customers are facing challenges in managing their cashflows. In this regard, we have started a communication series for our customers on providing essential tips to them on how they can manage their cashflows more effectively and stay afloat. Besides, we are also allowing for opt-in basis repayments. Through our regular communications to customers, we are also keeping them aware of the various social engineering and phishing cyber-attacks post COVID.

Other Measures for Employees Well-Being
NeoGrowth has been recently recognized as ‘Great Place to Work’ demonstrating high performance and high trust culture at NeoGrowth. During these challenging times, we have taken several measures to ensure safety of our employees, including work from home option for all our workforce, providing regular sanitation and safety tips, advising on practising social distancing and introduced alternate ways of collaborating through digital modes to ensure continuity of business. We are also working with our vendors and partners to ensure compliant and robust business continuity plans are operationalised at their end as well. 

How Tinder Members are Making Connections During Lockdown with Tinder Passport?

Tinder opened up its paid feature Passport for all members; the majority of members are using the feature to Passport between Indian cities

(Note on background: Tinder Passport is typically a paid feature for Tinder Plus & Gold subscribers. Members can search by city or drop a pin on the map and you can begin Liking, matching, and chatting with Tinder members in a destination of their choice. They can navigate between their current location and new destinations. This was made free for all Tinder members.)

With social distancing becoming the norm, meeting people is a no go. That’s why Tinder made its Passport™ feature free through April — Tinder wants to facilitate making new connections and maintaining social interactions during this challenging time. By allowing members to temporarily change their location, Tinder Passport lets them connect with matches all over the world, no matter how far away they are. Because — louder for the people in the back — social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t still connect with people virtually. And based on recent data, Tinder members are most definitely doing just that.

By looking at data from March to April, we learned which cities and countries members are virtually traveling to, and which cities are frequently interacting with each other. The majority of Tinder members are using the feature to change location within the country, with Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Delhi as the top 2 cities Passporting to each other. Tinder’s resident psychologist Sonali Gupta thinks it is very telling that majority location change is between members within India,  “One of the reasons could be that while there is a global pandemic world over, what's different is how countries are dealing with it. When people are reaching out to other people in Indian cities, they could possibly feel that their context and personal reality would be better understood by other Indians. This could be a reflection of realistic expectations - as people see that international travel is unlikely and they stand a greater chance of meeting someone who is based within the country.”

Excuse us while we virtually check out how Mumbai is doing during the lockdown.

Please find below a full factsheet on top cities and countries Indian Tinder Members are Passporting to.

Key:

Top 15 Passporting Pairings means cities Passporting to each other

Top 5 destinations in India means top 5 cities members in India are Passporting to

Top 5 global destinations mean top 5 countries members in India are Passporting to

3.6 Million People Joined Online Meditation Sessions at Sahaja Yoga

Millions of devotees from more than 70 countries will come together for collective online meditation  during May 1st to May 5th celebrations to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sahaja Yoga, a unique discovery by H. H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

Subtle System Sahaja Yoga meditation 

Sahaja Yoga is a movement, a practice and a lifestyle. This is well described in ancient texts, prophesized and mentioned by incarnations although it is a lesser-known form of meditation because of its non-glamorous and non-commercial nature. Practitioners are known to experience deeper and holistic transformations from this form of Yoga meditation. The knowledge and practice of Sahaja Yoga, meaning the spontaneous experience of unification of the inner Kundalini power inside the person with the all-pervading power all over the cosmos, was gifted to mankind by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi on 5th May 1970 and called as World Sahastrar Day by the practitioners of Sahaja Yoga.

As said by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi , ‘’You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you. It is everyone's right to achieve this state of ones evolution and everything necessary is already inbuilt. But as I respect your freedom, you have to have the desire to achieve this state, it cannot be forced upon you!” -- H. H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

“We voluntarily visit schools, colleges, corporates, government offices and, medical colleges besides visiting villages and distant rural areas to help people for them to get their Self realisation and learn true process of Meditation absolutely free of cost. Sahaja Yoga techniques even helps the farmers in agriculture. The knowledge is priceless, and our volunteers help people of all faiths across religions, castes, creed and colour in achieving their Self- Realisation,” said Dinesh Rai, Vice Chairman, H. H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Sahaja Yoga Trust (National Trust).

The 50th year celebrations will also be commemorated by continuous online meditation sessions and musical performances from 1st May till 5th May to celebrate the event and help people overcome anxiety and stress in these troubled times.

During lockdown, this free meditation initiative has been taken up by volunteers through various social media platforms like YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Mixlr and National television collectively twice a day. New seekers from across the country started calling for more information on the trust helpline 1800 30 700 800 after free live relay of meditation on the YouTube channel “Pratisthan Pune” and Facebook channel “India Sahaja Yoga”.

“In the last 40 days, we received over 25,000 thousand calls from new seekers that increased five times in the past one week as the word spread. The intent of all such initiative is to share en- masse self -realization free of cost so that people can start attaining complete balance in life,.” Mr Rai said.

Vidyadhan Distributes Daily Essential Kits to Underserved Families in Karnataka Amidst COVID 19

Vidyadhan, a flagship scholarship program under The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives announced the distribution of daily essential kits as part of its COVID-19 relief program.  In the first phase, 10,000 grocery kits are being distributed in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. This will be followed by a similar exercise in other states where Vidyadhan has a presence. The outreach is aimed at extending a helping hand to the needy and the underserved sections of society impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the nationwide lockdown continues to be in force, livelihoods of daily wage workers and those without stable jobs face a higher risk of economic uncertainty. The kits have 18 essential food items such as rice, flour, cooking oil, tea, pulses and sugar among others.

Launching the COVID-19 relief program, Mrs Kumari Shibulal, Founder and Chairperson, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives said, “We are passing through an unprecedented and unexpectedly difficult time. Times like these test our commitment to the well-being of humanity and call for greater unity and compassion among us. This daily essential kit is a humble attempt to express our support and solidarity.  While Vidyadhan is sponsoring the kits, we are collaborating with various local partners across different states to ensure seamless and effective distribution.”

In Karnataka, the focus groups include migrant labourers, differently-abled people, sex workers, tribal villagers and pregnant women. Vidyadhan has partnered with different NGOs to identify the beneficiaries and distribute 2000 daily essentials kits across Gulbarga, Dharwad, Davangere, Belgaum and Kolar districts. Another 1000 kits will be distributed in the tribal areas and other districts in Karnataka in the coming days.

Talking about the distribution drive, Basavaraj Patil Sedam, former Member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka and the driving force of the NGO Vikas Academy said, “On account of the critical COVID-19 situation, about 750 bags were sent to Gulbarga district by the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. We are happy to share that these bags contained about 18 essential food items, which were distributed in different parts of the Gulbarga district including 15 villages in Sedam, Chinchwadi, Chitapura talukas, Gulbarga rural area, Sedam town, Chitapur and 65 educational centres.”

He added, “Non ration-card holders were identified in Taranhalli village in Sedam Taluka the grocery kits were distributed to them along with about 40 widows. I am thankful to the Shibulal Family as previously also, they had made a big contribution for educational and other purposes. For the betterment of this country and its future, I once again thank the Shibulal Family for their philanthropic initiatives.”

Vidyadhan currently operates in 10 states. The present phase of distribution of 10,000 daily essentials kits is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

About The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives:

Born out of a sense of responsibility to society, the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives has been actively supporting those in need through initiatives in education, healthcare and organic farming for the last 20 years, starting from 1999.

The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives started with focus on education, based on the simple belief that the founders – Mrs. Kumari Shibulal and Mr. S.D. Shibulal achieved what they did because of it. Our initiatives such as  Vidyadhan, Ankur, The Samhita Academy, Vidyarakshak, Sikhskalokam, Edumentum, etc. are based on the premise of uplifting the underserved communities and providing them with the opportunity to build a better future.

Mrs Kumari Shibulal is the Founder & Chairperson of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. Passionate about doing her bit for the underserved communities, her vision (and that of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives) is to spread knowledge and create an environment focussed on social change through a solution-oriented approach.

About Vidyadhan:

Vidyadhan is the flagship higher education scholarship program of The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. We identify students in need of financial assistance after matriculation, to support them through senior school and graduation of their choice. We have given over 17000+ scholarships through this initiative. Many have gone on to become productive citizens after completing the program over the years. 4300 students across 10 states are currently in the program.

To make this program more scalable and self-sustainable, a new model has been introduced called ‘Each One, Teach One’. The primary mission is to enable academically brilliant but financially weak students to achieve their dreams. Launched in May 2015, this initiative provides need-based financial assistance to those pursuing degree courses such as medicine, engineering, nursing, etc.  The Shibulal family has pledged their support to Each One, Teach One’s vision to increase its impact from 17,000 scholarships in 10 States to 100,000 scholarships in all States in the next 5-7 years. Vidyadhan was launched in Karnataka in the year 2014 and currently has around 675 students in the state.